Post 6: Public Libraries

Before the civil wars there were six libraries in the capital city of Kabul and six provincial libraries. Three of the six libraries in Kabul were completely destroyed and their collections dispersed. All six provincial libraries were damaged. In recent years the Department of Libraries has not only re-established its modest pre-war network but has also succeeded in opening many other new libraries, both in Kabul and around the country. There are now 10 branch libraries in Kabul (including Afghanistan's only prison library at Pul-e-Charkhi Prison) and a further 50 provincial library branches.  Kabul Public library also has a mobile library van which services 12 outlying districts of Kabul.

 

Kabul Public Library

Kabul Public Library has a total of approximately 200,000 books, with around 50 per cent in Dari, 30 per cent in Pashtu and 20 per cent in English, plus smaller numbers of books in Russian, French and other languages.

The Lending Library contains a small collection of books which may be borrowed for up to three days at a time. 

The small Children’s Library houses over 2,500 books donated by the Goethe-Institute, mainly in German but with some Dari and Pashtu translations of German books and a few English publications.  The Goethe-Institute has also donated children’s tapes and videos but the library currently lacks the equipment to watch them.

The Library uses the Dewey decimal system. A few years ago Dutch consultants introduced a computer cataloguing system and trained the staff in how to use it. Apparently some 80 per cent of the Library’s holdings were successfully computerised but then the funding ran out and the system was abandoned in favour of the old manual catalogue card system.

Kabul Public Library

An Internet cafe was set up at the Library in 2003 with UNESCO funding but six months later The Ministry of Information and Culture changed the law and it was entrusted to a private operator, subsequently ceased operations and has since been shut. The Library’s management is currently looking for a way to restore it. In the meantime the Director is planning to open a small coffee shop in the Library garden.

The Library’s main problem is lack of funds to improve its operations. The collection has already grown far too big for the building and many works are stacked in piles on the floor due to lack of storage space. The building itself is in need of repair and with no climate control the condition of many of the books and other documents is deteriorating. There is particular concern for the fate of the valuable historic newspaper collection which is urgently in need of a more secure and controlled environment.

Since there are currently no librarianship training courses on offer in Afghanistan, most employees are trained in-house, although some staff members have taken short training courses in Iran.

I had noticed the website ‘Afghanistan Cultural Profiles’ before and dismissed it.  The navigational links around the site are not obvious, there are no subject tabs, and its only when you search specifically via the site’s search box or click on the links within the text that the amount of relevant information becomes obvious.  I only realised the value of this site for my purposes after conducting a search using the term ‘Kabul library’.  Dates on the pages are dated March 2011 and it is therefore offers some of the most current information to answer my initial question of ‘what progress?’

The website itself is interesting - originally created in 2003 as a pilot for the Cultural Profiles hosted by Visiting Arts, financial support from the British Council Afghanistan in 2009 brought the Afghanistan Cultural Profile back online. It was updated, expanded and relaunched in 2011 in a partnership between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), Afghanistan and Visiting Arts funded by the Government of Norway.

Targeted at cultural professionals, the Afghanistan Cultural Profile offers a sector-by-sector guide to the arts, media, libraries, archives and tourism sectors in Afghanistan.  Each sectoral overview is combined with a database of the relevant organisations, making it possible to learn about what’s happening in a particular cultural sector, and make direct contact with the people working in it.

References:

Visiting Arts 2011, Libraries, Afghanistan Cultural Profiles, viewed 18 October 2011, <http://www.afghanistan.culturalprofiles.net/?id=-1053 >.

Visiting Arts 2011, Kabul Public Library, Afghanistan Cultural Profiles, viewed 18 October 2011, <http://www.afghanistan.culturalprofiles.net/?id=35>.

Mitchell, C 2008, ‘Kabul Public Library’ [image] in Carol Mitchell’s photostream, Flickr, viewed 18 October 2011, < http://www.flickr.com/photos/webethere/2538639884/>. New York Public Library 2009, 'Librarian Sarah Ziebell on location in Afghanistan' 22 December, viewed 17 September 2011, <http://youtu.be/h0FfBd0d9Aw>.